


It's Not What You Think

by BettyHT



Category: Bonanza
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 04:44:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16190342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BettyHT/pseuds/BettyHT
Summary: Adam wants to get away from the pranks being played by his brothers, but it is Halloween so that is more of a problem than he thought it would be.





	It's Not What You Think

It's Not What You Think

"It's not what you think."

Adam noted the skeptical look on Roy's face even now as Adam sat behind bars trying to explain what had happened, again.

All Adam had wanted was to spend an evening in town without being troubled by his younger brothers. Lately the level of tricks being played had reached a new record surpassing any previous mark by an insurmountable amount. No matter how careful he was, he knew that he would have a bucket of water dumped on his head, a frog in his room, or some other dastardly event befall him. It had been funny at first and a good way to break out of the winter doldrums. He had even participated by retaliating a few times, but it was getting tiresome. It was Halloween and he could only imagine what awful things they could be planning for him with that in mind. Both had already asked him for candy and he told them he had none. The looks they gave him then were worrisome.

So he had packed his saddlebag with clean clothes, made sure he had money in his wallet, and had ridden away from the Ponderosa without his brothers seeing him leave. At least he had hoped that was true. To make a clean getaway, he had saddled Sport when they were busy cheating each other at checkers and plotting against him. Walking his horse at least a quarter mile from the stable before mounting up and riding to town seemed to be an adequate precaution. He hated walking, but if it meant he could escape the ranch and his brothers for a respite from them and their incessant pranks, it was worth the aggravation.

Then two hours later, there he was relaxing in a tub of warm sudsy water. He had ordered dinner to be delivered to his room in an hour and had a good book and a bottle of the finest brandy he could find waiting for him there. Sighing in deep contentment, he leaned back preparing to quietly enjoy a full evening without his brothers. He must have fallen asleep for a time because he was startled by a noise in the hallway and realized the water had cooled considerably.

With the water so cool, Adam decided it must be about time to dress for his dinner. He climbed out of the tub and dried himself with the towel. However, when he looked for his clothes, there were none there any more. He heard what suspiciously sounded like Joe's cackle outside the washroom. He bellowed for Joe to bring his clothes back in there and heard Hoss guffaw too. This was the worst they could do! He was mad. They had stolen away his dream. Opening the door, he stepped into the hallway wearing only the towel. Joe and Hoss were bent over in laughter with tears on their cheeks so proud of what they had accomplished.

Stomping toward Joe who was holding his clothing, he was going to grab them back, but Hoss grabbed a corner of the towel and pulled. Adam spun back toward Hoss to grab the towel, but Hoss held it high over his head as three women walked around the corner. They screamed but kept looking and seemed very interested in what they were seeing considering they were supposed to be outraged. Suddenly aware of the scandal they had created, Joe and Hoss took off at a run, but unfortunately dropped Adam's clothing and the towel too far down the hallway for him to retrieve them without passing the three ladies.

To escape, Adam reached for the door handle behind him and opened it to seek refuge in the washroom. In an additional cruel twist of fate, it was not the washroom door but another guest room. Instead of a refuge, he surprised Clem in bed there with a woman, and it wasn't Clem's wife. Shocked to be interrupted, Clem jumped out of bed, grabbed his clothes, and climbed out the window onto the back balcony of the hotel presumably to dress there and escape any more witnesses to his adultery. The three women were not giving up their pursuit of Adam and were yelling at him from outside the door claiming that he was some kind of pervert. Seeing no other avenue of escape, Adam slid into bed next to the lady that Clem had abandoned.

"Sorry, ma'am, but I just don't have any other options here."

Unfortunately, the lady in question had just been hired to teach school in Virginia City and this was going to cost her that job. She started screaming too. And that's when Roy showed up. He did have the courtesy to knock once and then twice before announcing he was coming in. Adam did yell that it would be better if he didn't, but Roy said it was his sworn duty to protect the women of the town, and one was screaming in that room.

After Roy got all four of the women to stop screaming, he looked to Adam. "Adam, we got laws against indecent exposure, and lewd and lascivious acts."

"Roy, honest, it isn't what it looks like! You can ask Joe and Hoss because they stole my clothes and then took my towel. And Clem was the one who took her to this bed. I only got in here to cover myself because I had no other options. They can tell you what happened if you can find them."

"Well, son, ain't none of them here, and you are, so ifn you would get yourself dressed, I'm duty bound to put ya in the jail now."

Adam groaned. The only saving thought was that his brothers couldn't do anything more to him in there. Or could they? "Ah, Roy, could someone go in the hallway and bring my clothes to me, and perhaps get these other ladies out of the room?"

A few minutes later, Roy was back. "Now, Adam, I don't know how to tell ya this, but there ain't a stitch of your clothes in that hallway, or the washroom, or the room you rented. There ain't nary a towel to be found neither. I guess you're a gonna hafta wrap yourself up in that sheet and walk on over to the jail that way."

"Roy, you can't be serious."

"I ain't smiling, am I?"

So once the lady in question was given some privacy and time to dress, Adam wrapped a sheet around himself and walked down the stairs of the hotel, across the lobby, and out onto the walk in front of the hotel. A large crowd had gathered and included Hoss, Joe, Clem, and the ladies who had been upstairs. Adam could not have been more embarrassed or more confused until Little Joe led the crowd in a chorus.

"Happy Halloween! Trick or treat!"

Then he knew, but he doubted that Roy would ever believe it. He was right about that part.


End file.
